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VOLUME:115 No.59, FEBRUARY 15TH, 2018

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INSIDE

Moultrie wins then says sorry

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

SEVEN days after his controversial comments helped push policy debates in the House of Assembly to the sidelines, House Speaker Halson Moultrie apologised yesterday for his attacks.

His apology came after the governing party passed a motion affirming its confidence in him as Speaker, having amended the opposition’s earlier resolution that sought to declare no confidence in his leadership.

Twenty-six MPs supported the FNM’s affirmation of confidence in the Speaker, four voted no, seven were absent and one abstained from the vote.

Mr Moultrie’s apology was the final act to a whirlwind day of debate that involved staunch defence of him from governing party members, excoriation from PLP MPs and a warning from Pineridge MP Frederick McAlpine that if his FNM colleagues behave like their predecessors, Bahamians will conclude: “Same script, different cast.”

After the vote - and in reference to his comments last week - Mr Moultrie, pictured, said: “My response from the chair was not an appropriate response. I am indeed very sorry that it occurred and that it precipitated the bitterness and resentment that followed…

“I was SEE PAGE SIX

WEB HIT’S TEARS AFTER DRUG BUST

THE Department of Immigration yesterday announced the trial acquisition of a suite of surveillance equipment to bolster its enforcement services.

The suite, on loan to the department for a 21-day period, includes eight I303 radios, one fullservice dash-camera device and four body-camera systems.

Immigration Director Clarance Russell said the equipment, once put to use, will not only ensure the safety of officers and those with whom they interact, but will also ensure the accountability and integrity of the department.

Mr Russell said: “As the world progresses and the issues become more confrontational, it is our endeavour to move to the next level. Immigration is no exception.”

SEE PAGE THREE

17 DEAD IN FLORIDA SCHOOL BLOODBATH PARKLAND, FLORIDA Associated Press

A FORMER student opened fire with a semiautomatic rifle at a Florida high school Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and sending hundreds of students fleeing into the streets.

The shooter, equipped with a gas mask and smoke grenades, set off a fire alarm to draw students out of classrooms shortly before the day ended at one of the state’s largest schools, officials said.

Authorities offered no immediate details on the 19-year-old suspect or any possible motive, except to say that he had been kicked out of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, SEE PAGE 15

INQUEST VITAL ON POLICE SHOOTINGS

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net EXPRESSING concerns over public discourse on police-involved killings, a former Court of Appeal president yesterday urged officials to “speed up” coroner’s inquests into such cases to foster “the needed peace”.

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Dame Joan Sawyer expressed a level of concern over the growing length of time between police-involved shootings and the coroner’s hearings.

Dame Joan suggested turmoil is being allowed to fester on both sides in the absence of “clear-cut facts which only the law can offer.”

SEE PAGE TEN

IMMIGRATION TO TRIAL BODYCAMS

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

L SOUR CE

HANDEREA Alexious Rolle - who came to be known as Miss Florida after a video of hers went viral outside court yesterday, where she was accused with two others over a $1,700 drug find. See page two for the full story.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

ADOPTION STALL TRAPS ARTHUR AT PMH

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

HIS STORY shocked the country last year but sadly the Princess Margaret Hospital’s five-year-old boarder “Arthur” is still living at the Paediatric Ward.

Five months after The Tribune published his story, Arthur’s two-year-long stint at the hospital continues

despite a request for adoption and renewed contact with his mother.

“We’re still trying to manage the issue with all the boarders,” said Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands yesterday.

“If there were an easy or simple solution we would have acted on it already.

You cannot just put these patients albeit boarders out, into an environment

that is either not safe or supportive.

He continued: “The hospital is not an adoption agency, notwithstanding the challenge that is not the process of adoption. It starts with social services, I can be instructed. It’s not as simple as, oh, this child has been here for years, there’s a family, take this child.”

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

SEE PAGE FIVE

WHY BAHAMIANS DEFY THE RETIREMENT ODDS

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Thursday, February 15, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Web hit’s tears after drug bust

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net

INTERNET sensation Handerea Rolle and two other men were charged in a Magistrate’s court yesterday with a single drug related charge stemming from the seizure of $1,700 worth of drugs from a house earlier this week.

Rolle, AKA “Miss Florida”, Ilano Noel and Kenneth Moncur stood before Deputy Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain charged with one count of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

It is alleged that on the day in question, the three were found in possession of 1lb 13 ounces of marijuana with an estimated street value of $1,700.

According to reports, shortly after 11am on the day in question, officers from the Flying Squad, acting on information, conducted a search of a home on Smith’s Lane off Andros Avenue and recovered a large quantity of marijuana.

Three men and a woman who were present in the house were taken into custody.

Noel plead guilty to the charge and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Rolle and Moncur

ALANO NOEL, left, and Kenneth Moncur, and, right, Handerea Rolle. Photos: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff pleaded not guilty to the charge and the matter was adjourned to February 27 for trial. Bail was denied and the pair was remanded to the Bahamas

Department of Correctional Services (BDCS) until that time.

They have a right to apply for bail in the Supreme Court.

OIL FACILITY HEADS OF AGREEMENT TO BE SIGNED

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

THE first of three Heads of Agreement for the development of an oil refinery and oil storage facility in Grand Bahama will be signed on Monday, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis announced yesterday.

The Oban Energy project

is estimated to be worth more than $4 billion and will lead to the creation of 600 direct jobs and “hundreds” of indirect jobs during the construction phase.

Dr Minnis made the announcement yesterday in an address to the House of Assembly.

Oban Energies will give $150,000 to an “accredited

research institute” one year after construction has commenced, he said.

Furthermore, the company will contribute $100,000 per annum to be used for “community projects and the development of East Grand Bahama.”

In a statement yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest added: “Training

programmes and the guarantee of Bahamian contracting and employment opportunities are key features of the Agreement.”

In the communication, Dr Minnis provided background for the Agreement and detailed its goals.

He said: “In December 2016 the Government of the Bahamas approved Oban Energies to commence an

oil refinery and oil storage facility in Grand Bahama.

“My Government has successfully completed negotiating the Heads of Agreement which paves the way for the commencement of this important project.

“This agreement articulates how this development can proceed. On Monday at 10:00 a.m. at the Office of the Prime Minister the Heads of Agreement will be signed. The following Monday another Heads of Agreement will be signed, and the following Monday, another one will be signed.”

Dr Minnis continued: “I am advised that Oban’s Energies Management Team has been involved in large energy infrastructure projects around the [world] and brings over 30 years of large complex construction experience.”

“Oban Energies has further advised that [first] phase will consist of 4 million barrels of crude storage, a [harbour], and deep sea loading dock, to service large vessels and the construction of a 50,000 barrel per day refinery.”

“In addition, Oban will build up to 20,000,000 million barrel liquid bulk storage facility and a 250,000 barrel per day refinery.”

“Oban Energies has committed to creating 600 direct jobs and we anticipate hundreds of indirect jobs during construction.”

“The oil refinery has an estimated project cost of up to 4 billion US dollars and the terminal has an estimated project cost of up to one billion five hundred million dollars.”

“This is a very significant development for Grand Bahama.”

In the communication, Dr Minnis also provided some points from the Heads of Agreement.

These include: “The Developer acknowledges the importance of the marine environment to the Government and, therefore, shall provide an amount equal to $150,000 to an accredited research institute as may be mutually selected by the Government

and Developer.”

“Such payment shall be made by the date that is 12 months after the commencement of construction of the Terminal and/or Oil Refinery.”

“The Developer will use commercially reasonable efforts to use Bahamian material, Bahamian professional services and other Bahamian services in connection with the implementation of the Development Plan.”

“The Developer shall contribute funds in the sum of $100,000 per annum to be used for community projects and the development of East Grand Bahama.

There shall be established a local community advisory board to determine the use of said funds.”

In the communication Dr Minnis reiterated his belief that “Grand Bahama is the head wind that must be fixed in order for the entire Bahamas to fully succeed.”

He continued: “Therefore, my Government has paid particular interest and focus on the revitalization of Grand Bahama.”

Consequently, the communication referred to other projects that will start in Grand Bahama.

Dr Minnis added: “We are on track to approving the sale and reopening of the Grand Lucayan which will significantly improve the economy of Grand Bahama.”

“I am also pleased that my government has approved in principle the recently announced project in West End.” In his statement, Mr Turnquest, East Grand Bahama MP, said: “We look forward to this signing and the commencement of construction, which will spur further development of the beautiful communities of East Grand Bahama and help restart the economy of the entire island of Grand Bahama.”

“We look forward to the additional announcements to be made regarding Grand Bahama’s revitalization over the next few weeks.”

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 15, 2018, PAGE 3

A ROYAL Bahamas Police Force officer with a body camera. The Immigration department is now looking at introducing the cameras.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

Immigration to trial bodycams from page one “We are obligated,” he said, “to make certain that our officers are safe when they enter the street.

In addition, in this era of accountability, we expect and place accountability at the doorsteps of our officers.”

Mr Russell added: “We will continue to do our duty without fear or favour, malice or ill-will; we will treat all persons who we come into contact with, with the greatest degree of respect.”

To that end, Mr Russell said the Department of Immigration agreed to operate, on a trial basis, the set of equipment.

“I invite my colleagues

in other places who are in law enforcement to take initiatives that I have seen others in other places have done, to make sure that their officers are safe.

But more importantly, to make sure that there is the era of accountability for everyone.”

Mr Russell added: “I think you can see globally that this is the direction in which law enforcement is going, and certainly the immigration services are no exception. So we are being proactive in attempting to get ahead of the race so that the questions of what you are doing; are you being held accountable; how safe is the public when we interact with them and our customers.

And that will no longer be

an issue that is up in the air.”

The equipment presented yesterday was offered to the department by Paracom, a Bahamian security firm.

An official from the firm indicated that cameras offered to the department feature a “tamper proof” mechanism that prohibits any attempt to delete or amend any video recorded.

Additionally, the cameras are equipped with a night vision feature, antishock mechanisms and is splash proof.

The cameras feed videos into a live database that can, if the option is selected, identify any person the officer comes into contact with. The feature allows the department

to research and address matters as they happen.

The I303 radio system also operates on a global platform, allowing officers to access its service at any location around the world while maintaining a secured network.

Officials said the devices will be rotated between officers in New Providence and Grand Bahama during the trial period, and upon review, recommendations will be made to the government to secure equipment for officers throughout the country.

Mr Russell noted such a purchase would be put to tender, for other companies to competitively bid, adding that the department was open to presentations.

FULL AUTOMATION FOR DEPARTMENT

BY JULY, SAYS DIRECTOR RUSSELL

By AVA TURNQUEST Tribune Chief Reporter aturnquest@tribunemedia.net THE IMMIGRATION department will be fully automated by July, according to its director Clarence Russell.

Mr Russell revealed training had already commenced for the new system with assistance from CBN, the Canadian Bank Note Company, which facilitated the automation of the Passport Office.

He noted the department planned to hold a press conference on its reformation initiatives in due course.

“By July of 2018 we intend to go totally automated,” he told the media at a press conference to announce a trial period testing body cams for officers.

Mr Russell continued: “CBN, Canadian Bank Notes, the same people that make money, the same persons very instrumental in totally automating the passport office where I came from are already on board.

“In fact training is going on as we speak. We are being proactive and doing our endeavour best to take this nation as we did with passport office and other areas to the next level.”

He continued: “We don’t want to be regarded as we are by some as second and third world in the area of technology when we have Bahamian companies and brilliant officers and brilliant leaders in this nation who are prepared to take us to the next level.

“If you listened to the honourable minister [Minister of Immigration Brent Symonette] at Cabinet, he has indicated very clearly

that the Immigration services are going to get practically whatever is necessary within reason to do our job.

“So I am satisfied as the leader that everything that needs to be done will be done within reason to put us on the cutting edge of technology. This is a clear indication that we’re serious.”

The high volume of permit applications was described as the greatest challenge faced by officials.

In August last year, Mr Symonette explained the

inundated system is further exacerbated by outdated manual processing and

limited physical capacity at the aging, rented complex on Hawkins Hill.

PAGE 4, Thursday, February 15, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

The Tribune Limited NULLIUS ADDICTUS JURARE IN VERBA MAGISTRI “Being Bound to Swear to The Dogmas of No Master”

LEON E. H. DUPUCH,

SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH,

jrolle@tribunemedia.net

Publisher/Editor 1903-1914 Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972 Contributing Editor 1972-1991

EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON,

C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B. Publisher/Editor 1972-

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Politics is stressing out America’s youth “I CAN’T sleep.” - A 16-year-old “It’s been extremely hard to concentrate.” - A 22-year-old “I got behind in school.” - A 22-year-old “I feel like I could get killed any second.”- An 18-year-old “I’m nervous about whether I need to go to school wearing a gas mask.”- A 14-year-old “I’m scared for my safety.” - A 15-year-old The current political climate has been difficult for Americans of all political stripes. People have been so stressed that, just before the 2016 presidential election, the American Psychological Association released a list of coping strategies to help adults deal with election-related stress.

The focus has been on adults, yet teens and college-aged Americans are exposed to the same headlines. Turns out – youth are feeling it, too. In our survey of 80 youth across the nation, published Feb 13, we found that a majority experienced physical or emotional distress before and after the 2016 presidential election.

For some youth, 2016 may have been their first time voting in a presidential election, engaging in political conversations or even following the news.

Twenty-four-hour-a-day news coverage in print, on the radio, online and on social media ensured that stories related to the election were easily and constantly accessible. One study showed that 54 percent of adults who used social media during the 2016 election were more likely to say the election is a very or somewhat significant source of stress.

The news bombarded everyone, but most certainly youth – the most connected of generations.

Stories of harassment and intimidation dominated news coverage after the election. News headlines reported a barrage of painted swastikas and hate speech, minority students being threatened and assaulted and an increased incidence of hate crimes.

These events across the country created anxiety about safety, discrimination and inclusivity in schools and on college campuses.

In this climate, we wanted to talk to youth about what they were experiencing.

Our team collects weekly survey data from people aged 14 to 24 across the nation via text messages. Immediately before and two weeks and four months after the 2016 presidential election, 80 youth answered open-ended questions about their emotional and physical responses to the election and the new presidential administration.

We learned that the majority of youth were experiencing, and continue to experience, physical or emotional distress in the current political climate.

Physical distress – difficulty concentrating, insomnia and overeating – was frequently coupled with emotional distress, including depression, anxiety and fear. Youth felt overwhelmed and exhausted throughout the election season.

Respondents reported fear of potential discrimination. They felt unsafe and hopeless about their future

opportunities. Two weeks after the election, a 22-year-old Indian-American explained her worries: “I am scared that I won’t have as many opportunities and I will have to fear for my life.”

In subsequent months, youth were affected by the rise of racially motivated harassment and crimes across the country. A 19-year-old MuslimAmerican wrote: “It’s been very distressing as a hijabi Muslim-American woman… I feel like my family has become a target for harassment and even violence.”

The issues the youth in our study care about most – health care, LGBTQ rights, women’s rights, immigration – have been the targets of political change in the first year of the current administration. News about the election and post-election implications have been hard to escape, leaving many youth feeling just as stressed as before the election.

A 16-year-old explained, “The news and social media coverage is almost unavoidable and always a constant nagging presence.”

While one would expect those who voted for a losing candidate to feel disappointed, supporters of both major party candidates and supporters of no candidate described physical or emotional responses following the election.

It’s not clear whether this level of stress is normal among youth during elections or political shifts. Among adults, studies have found that psychological and physiological changes occur while voting and after an election, particularly when the political conversation is focused on issues that directly impact them.

These responses should be concerning to those of us who work with and care about youth. During this tumultuous time, many of us continue to be exposed to news every day, everywhere we turn.

What’s more, mental health disorders among young people are currently on the rise. Between 2005 and 2014, rates of depression significantly increased for adolescents, from 8.7 to 11.3 percent, and rates of depression among young adults reached 9.6 percent. Similar trends have been observed with anxiety disorders.

There’s also much we don’t know going forward. Will feelings of hopelessness persist throughout the current administration? How will youth respond to the 2018 midterm elections and 2020 primaries? Will widespread fear, anxiety and depression affect the future health and well-being of young people?

As one 20-year-old commented, “I’ve given up and just hope people make it out alive.”

Politics is not just politics when it is hurting America’s youth. We encourage those who work with young people – such as teachers, clinicians and parents – to see this as a critical opportunity.

Now is the time to model positive coping strategies, embrace thoughtful conversation, encourage voting and volunteer work for causes youth care about and perhaps instill a sense of hope through our own actions and words.

By Melissa DeJonckheere University of Michigan, first published in The Conversation

Shame on PM EDITOR, The Tribune.

WHY couldn’t Prime Minister Minnis take the positive initiative in the House this morning and apologise for the issue with the Speaker, Moultrie and his MP Ms Emmanuel?

Dr Minnis would have shown he is above the fray of the gutter, but he chose not to which should be taken as he fully, totally and ultimately agrees with every word Speaker Moultrie and Ms Emmanuel said in the House last week.

Shame, Dr Hon Hubert

Minnis.

You constantly pontificate about giving good examples to our young people so you can’t see how positive it would have been if you took full responsibility of the unacceptable behaviour of two of your MPs, especially that of Mr Speaker.

Doc, you would have shown us all that you are a statesman like the late Sir Kendal Isaacs, but, sir, you failed the test.

I see every weekend now you are in this church or that church - you will not

obtain exoneration by this and the Churches need to keep all politicians out of their pulpits - We the People can’t speak to the House of Assembly so leave the House of God alone.

I had alike many hopes - not a Statesman - not a Leader and frightened to face the press. Where is our real Leader? All the FNM MP’s are sheep and lost their way and mouths!

Spineless!

ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau, February 12, 2018.

Symonette has to go EDITOR, The Tribune.

IT is truly agonising watching people major in minor issues while minoring in major issues.

This past week, the MP for MICAL was excoriated in the press for a statement she made while presenting in the House. I fail to understand why people were so outraged by her statements. I thought the advice she said her father gave her was sound and appropriate and if summarised it was simply that she should act like a lady if she wanted to be treated like a lady. If you get up in a man’s face in an altercation expect a confrontation that might be physical. This is not advocacy of domestic abuse as many have tried to make it, but is simply a statement of fact.

If two people are having a disagreement and one is calm and levelheaded, showing respect to the other, it is unlikely to escalate, whereas if two people raise the temperature of a discussion, provoking each other by entering the others personal space, it can easily have undesirable consequences. This is simple common sense. It is true of arguments between two males, two females or a male and female! I am flabbergasted that so many, even the elite educated ones in the House, missed the simple point she was trying to make.

Meanwhile, we have an immigration situation that

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net has been brewing for decades. Brent Symonette, who is currently serving his second time as Minister of Immigration, ought to have issued an apology to the Bahamian people or offered his resignation by now, as he is directly responsible for the immigration debacle that is taking place.

If, in the past, he had served as Minister of Immigration with just a modicum of competence, would he not have been able to identify areas others might try to exploit in our immigration policies and implement the necessary changes in the national interest? Had he, and others, done so, we might not be where we are now with this Jean Rony case.

For decades, regular Bahamians with limited education foresaw the challenges we are facing right now with immigrants. Not only did Mr Symonette fail this country in the past, but he is failing right now as he talks of reforming immigration law, ostensibly to “regularise” Haitians born to illegal immigrant parents!

Why not simply have them apply for Haitian citizenship and then based on their education, criminal record and productivity decide if they can have residency, but deny the granting of citizenship

in the future. The others can be deported to Haiti.

I must remind the Minister that when citizens of The Bahamas break certain laws they are forced to enter a foreign and hostile new environment in Fox Hill. There cannot be more concern for law breakers than for the law-abiding citizens of this country.

When faced with overwhelming decisions the government tries to change the law, as they did with gambling, to acquiesce to wrong as opposed to enforcing the law.

Additionally, why has he not considered placing a moratorium on the granting of citizenship to all Haitians applying for citizenship until this country has a better grasp of the magnitude and implications of the Haitian problem we have?

Mrs Emmanuel was tongue lashed, not so much for what she said, but for what people thought they heard her say! Her comments will have no affect on the course of this country in one week, one year or twenty years.

Brent Symonette, however, is at the centre of a immigration situation that will redefine the course of this country, but no one gets worked up about that!

His presence is a reminder of the failure of past ministers of immigration. He has to go!

JB Nassau, February 14, 2018.

Speaker planned comments EDITOR, The Tribune.

MR Speaker’s outburst was politically planned... there is no doubt.

Mr Speaker had pages of notes and was reading constantly from them - cameras do not lie.

There isn’t an MP who can stand and ad lib without notes so every single MP who made what they would call a “contribution” had their scripts re-written and brought them to the House. I have to ask did the Media Department of a PM

write the speeches? Oh is that what Ace does all day was wondering as he speaks once a week.

It is my opinion that this was totally orchestrated by the Hubert Minnis Government.

Truth never lies what Madam MICAL MP spoke was nothing but her feeling she read it off a pre-written script - her comments were premeditated 1000%.

Well clearly we have a lot of sheep as FNM MP’s - none stood their ground on basic moral and ethical

grounds as they should have when the Speaker commented and involved Hon Brave Davis’s wife - not a soul protested the speech of MP from MICAL not a soul.

Is this the FNM we voted for?

Prime Minister I am ashamed that you did not see it was the time to correct and chastise the Speaker and his MP for their comments.

W THOMPSON Nassau, February 10, 2018.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 15, 2018, PAGE 5

ARTHUR as previously pictured by The Tribune during his long-term stay at Princess Margaret Hospital.

Photos: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

Adoption stall traps Arthur at PMH from page one “It doesn’t work that way. We cannot circumvent the process, and the legal process.

Dr Sands added: “These issues speak to some deep rooted challenges in our social fabric and points out a number of the gaps. We don’t have the type of long care low intensity nursing homes or the type of hospice environment. So until they are able to be introduced and supported we are going to continue to pay this price.”

The Grand Bahama family behind the adoption request, who spoke to this newspaper on the condition of anonymity, expressed frustration over the “nonchalant” manner in which their interest has been managed by both the hospital, and the Ministry of Social Services.

“It took forever before I actually spoke to a person,” said the GB mother interested in adopting Arthur, “maybe a month has passed or more to the end of November. I must have spoken with every agency

associated with Social Services in Nassau, they just kept transferring me over and over until they finally referred me to Social Services in Grand Bahama and that’s when I lost my patience.”

“I had already gone through that run around with another child. I lost my patience with that office and I didn’t want to go through that again. We’re still interested (in Arthur), I guess I need a new burst of mental clarity to deal with that.”

The Tribune changed Arthur’s name to protect his identity as one of four child boarders being housed at PMH last year. In September when the story was published, two infant girls were in the Neonatal Ward.

His case is one of dozens of children that have called the institution home due to their complex medical histories, some unable to leave until they are teenagers and others as adults.

PMH administrator Mary Lightbourne-Walker last month confirmed the number of boarders had nearly doubled since The Tribune exclusively

revealed in September there were 28 boarders costing the public hospital more than $15,000 a day.

Minister of Health Dr Duane Sands said the issue costs the government a whopping $7m each year.

The Tribune understands Arthur’s mother was in talks with the hospital concerning his discharge in November, but did not follow through.

This was after the GB family’s interest in Arthur, which began with an email inquiry on September 19.

The adoption request was forwarded by email to EMC on September 21, advising of the request and guidance for appropriate response/ referral from the Hospital,” the report read.

Advice was given to contact Social Services for more information; however, the GB mother sent another email on October 3, requesting update on information regarding adoption process for paediatric boarders.

The hospital responded to the GB mother on October 4 advising her to contact the hospital’s social workers and

provided contact details.

The following month, Arthur’s mother was in contact with him and expressed hopes of taking him home, but by the following month had not followed through on this.

In an interview with The Tribune, the GB mother explained her family had previously attempted to adopt a girl but were unsuccessful due to issues with

obtaining a passport for the child.

She continued: “It was so off-putting, and it was disturbing to my child because she still remembers the girl.

We didn’t want to go down that road again where you get attached. It makes you feel like they want to keep the children as opposed to finding homes for them.

“We’re still interested.

When you think about what

he (Arthur) could have been getting adjusted to, instead of being stuck there still.

She added: “(Adoption) was something we (family) always said we would do even before we got married, it didn’t matter how many children we had, we would adopt one.”

Hospital officials did not respond to requests for comment up to press time.

PAGE 6, Thursday, February 15, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Moultrie wins then says sorry from page one wrong for getting in the flesh... I allowed myself to get in the flesh and out of character on the 7th of February 2018. I said things that I should not have said.

I realise now that some of my words were hurtful and some words opened the door to be construed in a way that they were not intended.

“And the member for Cat Island, Rum Cay and San Salvador, who has known me for years, we share a mutual best friend, he is fully aware that I didn’t intend to attack his wife.

That is just not the kind of person I am or want to be.

Everyday, my wife and I, we say the Lord’s Prayer to end our morning devotion, but alas, I am not a perfect man, but I am trying to get there.”

He added: “I’ve already

expressed my forgiveness in the past two days for those who felt that I harmed them and my family and I, we’re at the stage of our lives now where we understand the importance of relationships.

My pride will not stand in the way of my love for the relationships that I engendered over the years. And as a country, this Bahamas, my pride will not stand in the way of God’s purpose for my life.

“I did not ask for this job.

Matter of fact I told the prime minister on a number of occasions that this is a lonely, isolated job. But I believe that I was chosen for this job for such a time as this. It is important to me and our children that we show them we can agree to disagree but in an agreeable way.

“Members of the minority party, you are an important plank in our developing democracy. The parliament

NEEDED Office Assistant needed to work full time must be knowledgeable of Quickbooks, a peoples person and able to multi-task.

Send resume to servicewithasmile242@outlook.com

has voted an expression of confidence in your humble servant by majority and I think we are all reasonable men and women who are able to reason together in the best interests of the institution of this parliament and our nation. I have already forgiven you and I say let us now seek conciliation together so we can now get on with the people’s business.”

Hours before Mr Moultrie’s apology, Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells, leader of government business in the House, appeared to deliver his party’s official response to the opposition’s efforts to condemn the Speaker. In introducing their counter resolution to the PLP’s motion, he said Mr Moultrie had “restored the honour, dignity and respect to the High Office of Speaker”.

Buoyed by

SPEAKER of the House Halson Moultrie yesterday. encouragement from his colleagues, he argued the PLP caused the controversy, citing words of PLP chairman Fred Mitchell as purported evidence that the PLP conspired to make the FNM overreact.

“It was planned and orchestrated with the intent of getting the government

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

to overreact, thereby giving the opposition a cause to grandstand and to derail the government’s agenda,” he said. Mr Mitchell later released a video accusing Mr Wells of being “lost in space”.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, in his first address on the controversy,

blamed the PLP for “deliberately disrespecting the chair and challenging the authority of the Speaker despite “having been roundly rejected by the people in the last election.” He said the PLP has sought a declaration of no confidence against two previous Speakers.

McALPINE IS ONLY FNM TO OPPOSE SPEAKER

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE lone FNM voice who failed to back the Speaker yesterday was Pineridge MP Frederick McAlpine, who argued the events of February 7 took the parliament to an “alltime low”.

He said what has taken place reflected much of what Bahamians have disdained about politics within the last 25 years.

“People out there don’t like what they’ve been seeing and hearing in here,” he said. “How can an establishment that is so nationally high bring us to an all-time low? How does a place with supposedly honourable men and

women display such dishonourable conduct?

“The message the people are sending is that they’ve seen this movie before.

The cast might presently be different but the plot, the scenery and the performance are very vivid and familiar.

“The people have asked me to share some of the scenes from the last performance by another cast. They reminded me of how my leader was once leader of the opposition, and how he had been named and how members then sought to block the police from getting to him. They reminded me of another time when the entire opposition walked out of the House and they were not suspended by the then Speaker, and one of his members

stayed behind, in the person of Mr Edison Key. “They reminded me of how my present leader, who was once leader of the opposition, was always being bombarded and berated by the then government as to who is the leader, the man or the woman?

Does it sound familiar?

“They reminded me how the then government would stick their chest out, bang on their desks and laugh at the opposition who would always remind them they have the numbers. That was the movie the Bahamian people were watching between 2012 and 2017. It’s now 2018 and the script is so familiar. This is why the people say: same movie, different cast. All of us in this honourable place

know how that movie ended; than in and of itself should cause us to write an entirely different script.

“The people of The Bahamas wish for us to elevate our speech and behaviour in this place. They want maturity and consciousness from their representatives.

A message from the people of Pineridge and by extension Grand Bahama and The Bahamas: the people are mad with the present opposition that’s why they are where they presently are, in opposition. While they are mad with the present opposition, resulting in them being where they are, the people of the Bahamas, supporters included of our government, are highly disappointed in our performance.”

NHI Authority Appoints a Managing Director The Board of Directors of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) announces the appointment of Mr. Graham Whitmarsh who assumes the position of Interim Managing Director effective 19th February 2018. Mr. Whitmarsh will report to the NHIA Board of Directors and lead the expanded and accelerate implementation of NHI in the Bahamas. The Board expects a permanent Bahamian Managing Director will be appointed to lead NHI within 2 to 3 years. Mr. Whitmarsh previously worked on NHI with PricewaterhouseCoopers and is familiar with the opportunity and challenges associated with expanding and improving health care in the Bahamas.

Mr. Whitmarsh has an exceptional breadth of experience in healthcare, finance, aviation and technology at the CEO level in both the public and private sectors. Mr. Whitmarsh has held two of the most senior positions in the Government of British Columbia: Deputy Minister of Health and Deputy Minister of Finance and Secretary to Treasury Board. Prior to his stint in the public sector, he served as a senior executive and President in the private sector both in Canada and the USA. He also served as Director of First Nations Health Authority.

Mr. Whitmarsh is a graduate of the University of Leeds, UK, and Dartmouth Royal Naval College. He has served on numerous Boards of Directors, including Public Companies, Not for Profits and Government Committees. Mr. Whitmarsh began his career as a Submarine Officer in the Royal Navy.

The Board recognizes the contributions of the NHI Implementation Team who played a pivotal role in the launching of the Primary Care phase of the NHI program.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 15, 2018, PAGE 7

LEADER of the Opposition Philip Davis in the House of Assembly yesterday.

Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

DAVIS SLAMS MOULTRIE FOR ‘WILFUL, MALICIOUS ATTACKS’

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

BEFORE the governing party rebuffed his motion yesterday, Progressive Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis urged parliamentarians to condemn House Speaker Halson Moultrie for his “wilful, malicious and personal attacks on private citizens” .

He encouraged them to reject the Speaker for his “unlawful, wrongful, capricious, arbitrary and disproportionate suspension of” Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin two weeks ago.

And he called on them to support his motion of no confidence because Mr Moultrie had disgraced “the role and reputation of the Office of the Speaker of the House”.

Mr Davis repeatedly used public criticism as a sword in his analysis of the matter, urging the majority

THE WORDING of the amendment to the resolution. to consider condemnation the Speaker has descended from critics across the polit- into the fray, into the mud ical divide. pit and by doing so has “The reasons for bringing irretrievably damaged this resolution of condem- the role of Speaker as we nation and censure in a understand it in our Parliasense are more significant mentary democracy. than the acts which led up to “He is the enforcer of the events today,” he said. the rules. To do so, he “The primary reason is that must be impartial but more

importantly seen to be impartial. His responses cannot be personal. They must be dispassionate.

“The Speaker is very much like a judge. In fact, the position is quasi-judicial. He is the protector of the rights and privileges of the House, often described

as ancient rights and privileges. You will recall that when the House of Assembly opens at the start of the session, as her Majesty’s Representative comes to the House, the door is closed in the face of that representative and the representative must knock on the door and be granted entrance by the Speaker.

“The Speaker is the first commoner of the land.

He defends the rights of Members. He should not oppress members. The record will show that what the Speaker did in this instance was to compromise those fundamental aspects of his role. This makes his continuation in the role untenable.”

For her part, Mrs Hanna Martin took aim at members of the governing party.

“What has been equally or perhaps more shocking is the endorsement and commendation, the laughter and the banging of the tables in gleeful support by

Members who sat in this House in apparent appreciation of the gross departure from the standards of this Honourable House,” she said.

She later repeated the words some FNM MPs uttered last week, juxtaposing them with Mr Moultrie’s attacks which some critics have said were without precedent.

Exuma MP Chester Cooper said he had come to Parliament to improve people’s lives, not for what has taken place in the last two weeks.

“What I did not come here for was to sit and listen to affirmations of xenophobia, misogyny and homophobia and twisted logic as to how women should know their place, and to listen to grown men and women of honour applaud as one of their own described the circumstances in a relationship that prescribe when a woman should be beaten,” he said.

PAGE 8, Thursday, February 15, 2018

Why Bahamians defy the retirement odds M

ANY of my friends are of retirement age.

But they don’t, retire that is. Why would you choose to work when you could choose to not work, a question that assumes the choice is not based on a need for money, but is strictly a personal one? The question intrigued me so I began to a totally non-scientific study. I asked about ten people, ten being a large enough sample to provide a clue that would have one of two outcomes – reaffirm my guess or be such an eye-opener as to qualify for revelation status.

One answer after another from the incredibly simple exercise was the same when I posed the question, “Why are you still working? Why would you not retire?”

The four-word answer was almost identical: “What would I do?” they said.

What they did not say was as powerful as what they did say. They did not say “Because I love what I do”, or “I would miss the people I work with”. No, it was an absence of something to fill the days and thoughts that kept Bahamians working long past the age when people in other places retire. That is a fascinating thought that defies retirement odds, but provides valuable insight that tells us that Bahamians are already living the dream others have for how they would live post-retirement.

Think about it this way.

Someone living in Mt Washington, New Hampshire, which gets snow 118.5 days a year qualifying it for snowiest city in the US, may be dreaming of retirement when they shovel enough snow out of the drive and melt the ice on their windshield to get to work and pray they make it home safely. As they slosh their way through the slush, they may well dream they will retire one day and move to Florida where the sun shines year round. Millions brave the freezing temps for months on end, steely grey skies, lack of sunshine, the need to bundle up just to step outside.

Lancaster, New York, a few years ago got 74 inches

THE TRIBUNE

By Diane Phillips

of snow in a matter of days.

That’s snow up to Buddy Hield’s shoulders.

No wonder retirement hangs out there like the Promised Land. Imagine what you would be thinking as you were melting the ice on your windshield, shivering in the cold, ready to face another day in the office – “I can’t wait to hit 65 and retire, move to Florida where the sun shines and take holidays in The Bahamas”.

Bahamians already live where the sun shines every day unless there is a blip like a hurricane.

We don’t live in a place where our weather-related happiness depends on what kind of mood a groundhog is in. Will there be another six weeks of winter or will there be an early spring?

We have probably never even met a groundhog. We live where others would dream of retiring.

The bad news is the belief that there is little else to do to fill the void if we were to not work.

Even those people who live in places like Lancaster and Mount Washington, and I am not casting aspersions on either – they are probably postcard beautiful bathed in snow – but residents must cling to the dream that there is life after work. If they do not move to Florida or a land of year-round warmth, they may enroll in a course at a university, take up pottery-making and sculpting or furniture building, or singing, or join Habitat for Humanity or engage in

online currency trading (as apparently about 500 Bahamians are today).

They may travel extensively, packing belongings, food, supplies and even old-fashioned paper maps into an RV and hit the road. Our options are limited. If we hit the road, we would just sit in traffic and what would we do with an RV on this island anyway and it is not like you could drive to Inagua to see the flamingoes and the salt flats in your retirement. The smallness of our islands, in some ways, keeps us more loyal to our work, but the largeness of our daily lives is something most around the world would envy. We drive to that same work we do not want to give up with the sun beating through our car window. We pass spaces where we gaze out on to the water and noting whether it is flat calm or are there ripples. We look around us and everywhere we look we see greenery, we see palm trees and in season flaming Royal Poinciana or pink and white poipoi trees.

We see breathtaking every day.

We live breathtaking. It is our backdrop and it fills our senses to overflowing.

But while what we view and live is the envy of the planet, what we do with our lives in this environment of nature’s riches is worth pondering.

The question we need to consider is whether retirement is good for your health. You might think so. You are shedding all that stress, never having to face doing something

RETIRING to go view the flamingoes in Exuma? Or do you plan to keep working? you dread that someone is ordering you to do. You can sleep late, do whatever you want that day or nothing at all. Sounds like a freedom that would immediately be as good for your health as multi-vitamins on steroids. But hold on just a second.

There is actually no clear evidence people who retire are better off or healthier than those who continue to work longer years. In fact, many studies found the opposite and others conclude that it is not when you retire but how you retire that matters most.

According to a Harvard Health Blog, “Moving from work to no work comes with a boatload of changes.”

That’s hardly a surprise.

Work gives us purpose, lacking purpose can cause more stress than the stress we have on our jobs. Work also gives up the opportunity to interact with people around us and nonwork can take away that unplanned, unscheduled interaction with others. A study far more scientific than my sample of ten by the Institute of Economic Affairs in the UK found retirement increases the chances of experiencing at least one diagnosed illness by 60 percent and chances of suffering from clinical depression by about 40 percent.

It sounds dramatic but retired folks are almost always older so it seems to me the depression part is

the more stunning finding though understandable.

Loneliness in older folks is a major concern and continuing to work, especially for the non-married, whether divorced, widowed or never married, can be greater if the person is not engaging with others on a regular basis. Findings of the UK study were similar to a 2012 Harvard Health study of 5,422 individuals measuring rate of heart disease. That study discovered that retirees were 40 percent more likely to have had a heart attack than others their age still working.

The findings of another study in the US by the National Bureau of Economic Research provided very practical advice.

Increases in physical maladies and decline in mental health were both abrogated (they did not use that word, hope that is what they meant) by certain other factors. Being happily married or at least getting along with your spouse so that going to work was not a means of escape, getting out of each other’s way, was one. Others included having a social support system or social life outside the workplace. Maintaining physical and mental activity were critical.

In summary, various studies while not in total agreement about the health benefits of retirement vs. working do give us very good advice about how to

retire successfully.

The issue is that we hear financial advice from the time we are young. “Save for retirement.” What we don’t hear is what we need to know – that financial security is only a starting point.

If you are thinking about retiring, don’t do it suddenly, going to work one day and stopping work the next. That could be like falling off a cliff and most of us do not choose that as a voluntary exercise. Successful retirement takes what every successful venture takes, strategy.

Retirement strategy is all about keeping your mental and physical self happily occupied, engaged and busy. It also helps if you are happily occupied, engaged and busy with a spouse who is equally happily occupied, engaged and busy. If you have lost a loved one or you are divorced and considering retirement, you may just want to work a little longer or alter your routine so that the loneliness does not become a threat to the happiness you might be enjoying.

Maybe the thought of retiring is good enough and work is not so bad after all.

Or when retirement is on the horizon and the fish are biting, put out the Gone Fishing sign and really do it. Fish like you never fished before. Retirement is an absence of work schedule, no one ever said it was an absence of goals.

THE TRIBUNE

PLP ‘were ready to give Nygard what he wanted’

By NICO SCAVELLA Tribune Staff Reporter nscavella@tribunemedia.net ATTORNEY Fred Smith, QC yesterday accused the previous administration of having a “pre-determined” motive to grant Canadian fashion mogul whatever applications he was seeking to allow him to reconstruct his Lyford Cay home before public consultation on the issue.

Standing before Supreme Court Justice Rhonda Bain, Mr Smith laid bare a number of documents which he claimed demonstrated the last Progressive Liberal Party government’s attempt to “rush through” and “obfuscate” Mr Nygard’s applications concerning a $50m investment he planned to make in Nygard Cay. According to Mr Smith, Save The Bays, formerly the Coalition to Save Clifton Bay, submitted multiple letters to numerous government ministers and/ or officials between March and May of 2013, including former Prime Minister Perry Christie, seeking certain information concerning

the construction/development activities at Nygard Cay. However, Mr Smith said the only response the Coalition received from any of the government entities came in the form of two separate letters from the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and the Ministry of Works in April of that year.

And those letters, in response to the Coalition, only acknowledge that those ministries were in receipt of the Coalition’s letters, and in the case of the letter from the Ministry of Works, only stated that “all representations made will be taken into account in the decision making process”.

As a result of the Coalition not receiving a satisfactory response from the various government entities, the Coalition applied for the first of several Judicial Reviews against the construction/development activities at Nygard Cay. Notwithstanding that, Mr Smith said a year later, the government still went ahead and issued a public notice on June 18, 2014,

concerning Mr Nygard’s reconstruction plans, with a 21-day consultation period.

That then led to the Coalition applying for a second Judicial Review concerning the construction at Nygard Cay, but that Judicial Review was aimed at the consultation process itself.

Yesterday, Mr Smith contended that for the government to have embarked on a consultation process concerning Nygard Cay, which was already the subject of controversy both legally and at the regulatory level, and to have done so in a very “conflated” and “amorphous” manner, suggested it was nothing more than a “sham”.

Mr Smith’s submissions came during court proceedings stemming from Mr Nygard’s ongoing battle with Save The Bays over allegations the construction/development activities at his Lyford Cay home have led to a substantial growth of the property.

The group claims Mr Nygard has almost doubled the size of his property, from 3.25 acres to 6.1 acres, since he acquired it in 1984, by allegedly reclaiming Crown land from the sea.

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Thursday, February 15, 2018, PAGE 9

PETER Nygard at a previous court appearance.

College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University

Presidents’ Cocktail Reception

We are excited to announce that College of Saint Benedict President Mary Dana Hinton and Saint John’s University President Michael Hemesath '81 are returning to the Bahamas for the 2018 edition of our annual President’s Cocktail Reception. Please join us on Saturday, February 24, 2018 from 6-10 p.m. at The Balmoral Club as Bennie and Johnnie alums, parents, and friends gather to celebrate our extraordinary institutions and the very special Benedictine bond between the Bahamas and CSB/SJU. It promises to be an inspiring evening as we imagine our future together while reconnecting and reminiscing with one another.

We especially look forward to welcoming our traditional guests of honor, prospective CSB/SJU students and their families. It is truly a unique opportunity for them to visit face-to-face with campus leaders and Bahamian alums and parents to learn about our community and academic partnership. With your presence they will come to appreciate what we have all known for decades: that many of our most engaged and active students and a litany of distinguished alums have come to Minnesota from the islands

Please RSVP at our secretariat at 327-0689.

PAGE 10, Thursday, February 15, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

DAME Joan Sawyer speaking during the We March protest.

Inquest vital on police shootings from page one There have been six fatal police-involved shootings

this year, with the two most recent occurring within a 24-hour period.

Since November 2017, there have been 11 fatal

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police shootings, according to The Tribune’s records.

Reflecting on those numbers, Dame Joan said those statistics paint a

bleak narrative because they aren’t juxtaposed with statistics of how such matters were resolved.

“How do you say it,

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justice delayed is justice denied,” Dame Joan noted.

“I’ve seen these matters first-hand, so I know the pain involved. So when I speak, that is where I speak from. You can’t have the narrative continue as is because the public will get exhausted when they don’t see the end results.”

She continued: “We need to bring speed to the system so that when we hear (police-involved shootings), we think fair and justice. Not leaning one way or the other, just the thought that no matter what happened or how it happened, that it was resolved and the matters of fact presented.”

“To get to it, address it, and allow the resolution to happen; you understand what I’m saying, resolution means a true peace.

“By the time they get to (cases), only the family remembers. The public has already moved on and forgotten.

“I wished the system addressed these cases in a faster fashion. I always operated with the view that you have to clear the deck particularly in these matters because you want to advance the thought of peace on both sides.

“Justice delayed is justice denied.”

Dame Joan continued: “Both sides feel in this, but when there is delay in the legal, judicial process, you allow the public conversations to creep in; and once that happens, the facts of the case often get lost,” she added.

Last December, Attorney General Carl Bethel called the lack of inquests into police-involved killings and in-custody deaths “distressing” and “unacceptable”.

At the time, Mr Bethel said the Minnis administration would deal with the matter aggressively, as he revealed that there were about 28 police-related deaths that require an inquest, most of which were “just there”, languishing in the system.

His comments came on the heels of a Tribune Special Report which analysed legacy issues facing Coroner’s Court, the Coroner’s Act and handling of police matters by the legal system.

Mr Bethel concluded in these comments that he would meet officials of his office and Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez to determine whether administrative or legislative fixes are necessary to address the problem.

However, to date, there has been no further recommendations made on the issue.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 15, 2018, PAGE 11

MINISTER of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield greets Chinese Ambassador Huang Qinquo and his wife, Madame Zheng Chuncao, during the celebration commemorating the opening of the 2018 Chinese New Year.

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

CELEBRATING CHINESE NEW YEAR MINISTER of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield attended a ceremony commemorating the opening of the Chinese New Year last Thursday at the British Colonial Hilton.

Chinese Ambassador Huang Qinguo and his wife Madame Zheng Chuncao hosted the event. Also in attendance were Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling, members of the Cabinet and judiciary, senior public service officials and members of the Chinese community in The Bahamas.

Minister Henfield said he was honoured to attend the celebration. He said: “The Spring Festival is a very important celebration

on the Chinese calendar and is traditionally marked by happy gatherings, close family interactions, vibrant parades and colourful celebrations among Chinese communities all over the world. Here in The Bahamas, it is no different.

“I wish you, Ambassador, and the entire Chinese Community in The Bahamas a wonderful evening and all the best for this coming Chinese New Year.”

Last year, The Bahamas and China commemorated a significant milestone, as both countries celebrated the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

“Since 1997, the Government of the People’s Republic of China has

made invaluable contributions to the development of The Bahamas,” said Mr Henfield. “We have continued to enjoy a harmonious friendship deepened by co-operation in areas such as tourism, health care, financial services, trade, agriculture and education.”

He said that the Government of The Bahamas ‘appreciates and welcomes’ China’s continued support with respect to mutually supported candidacies, cultural exchanges, crosstraining, visa-free travel, and business investments. And also looks forward to the finalisation of the Civil Air Services Agreement, which will further help to stimulate economic growth.

PAGE 12, Thursday, February 15, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Why are we so worried - the facts don’t lie?

T

HE head- countries it will grow by just lines about the $32m. Facing those numround-trip of bers, exclusionary policies Jean Romy just don’t work to staunch Jean-Charles, and his con- the flow from poor to tinuing uncertain legal affluent, from sub-Sahel status, tell us again how Africa crossing the Medimuch we worry about terranean to the coasts of ONE Haitian found in our Europe. country. Brits or Swedes or Will Haiti exert similar Poles don’t bother us, but pressures on our country? over 11 million Haitians Both Government policy do as they loom less than and our personal views 200 miles from our nearest seem mesmerised by this border dwarfing our 400,000 fear. So what’s our soluBahamians tion?

More —who may So what’s our detention already centres, more solution? More include as barbed wire? many as detention centres, More police 60,000 of our more barbed taking time neighbours to check wire? More police documents already living here, legally taking time to before mass or illegally. round-ups? check documents Not only before mass round- More 100nearby, foot patrol but POOR! ups? More 100-foot boats that and so desper- patrol boats that run aground ate they arrive run aground navigating by wrecking our shoals? their decrepit navigating our More charcraft on our shoals? More tered aircraft beaches, for forced chartered aircraft crammed repatriation? by the for forced All to see it hundreds repatriation? All to happen again into wooden and again? It shells. A see it happen might be fearecent lec- again and again? sible, but at turer here what cost from Europe cited fig- – both in money spent ures forecasting that while weakening our budget and the population of emerg- in human rights violations ing markets will increase staining our Christian repby 3.6 billion by the end utation? of the century, in the rich Few hard facts justify our

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JEAN Rony Jean-Charles outside court - whose case has highlighted public alarm over Haitians. Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff fears. Population is projected to rise annually at 1.2 percent to a total of 475,000 in 2040. Twentyfive percent of the growth is forecast to come from immigration, and a substantial share will certainly be Haitians. But our Department of Statistics shows net immigration of only about 400 people per year, and only 10 percent of births are to non-Bahamian mothers — hardly enough to undermine our proud cultural heritage.

I have heard innumerable apocryphal stories that Haitians overwhelm our free public services. But a Larry

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Smith column from 2010 shut the alarm bell, reporting that 8.8 percent of school children were Haitians, as were 11 percent of hospital admissions, while 12,500 were registered at NIB contributing $3.5m while receiving only 1.8 percent of benefits.

Most able-bodied Haitians apply for work permits, but it cannot be seriously argued they steal jobs from Bahamians.They do not commit our prominent murders, and cannot be traced to terrorism or money-laundering.

Their real negative is simply the personal stigma of shabbily dressed foreigners who struggle with our language. Forty years ago, a leading white mogul confided in me, “Of course I love the black man - I deal with him every day.

But he can’t run a business!” That’s how blacks of today often feel about Haitians. And they too will be proved totally wrong.

The evolution could come much faster if we shifted every dollar spent on apprehension and expulsion to education and job training — surely giving a much higher return on investment in human capital. I once enjoyed a buoyant celebration at a major Haitian church in Southeast Nassau. Despite my limited Creole, I could chat with families who were sporting their Sunday best on the weekend break from labour — with or without work permits.

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Ministers Symonette and D’Aguilar, businessmen now in Government, have both hit on the private sector for not doing more to encourage tourists to circulate in downtown Nassau — and incidentally to make urban life more fun for us residents.

A good start now has been announced with Government’s approval of a habour-front boardwalk to be built and funded by a group of private property owners. Twenty years ago I took the photos for a Tribune supplement illustrating the dilapidated eyesores still standing in this Zombie Zone. In my next column I will point the finger at what can be demolished, rebuilt, renewed or beautified with the stimulation of a teeming boardwalk.

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secured by a lien on all the company’s assets.

These factors are compensated by the dividend rate of 8 percent, compared with interest less than 3 percent on the latest Government bond issues, our closest approach to a risk-free security. A subscriber to $50,000 of Shares (the minimum) will receive a $2,000 dividend semi-annually for the first five years, and for the last five years annual principal repayments of about $10,000 plus dividends on the declining principal — an attractive return in these days of miniscule interest on bank deposits.

This financing has no direct bearing on the equity net worth of ALIV, a question of great interest to Cable Bahamas and its thousands of BISX shareholders. That will only be resolved when Government, at last, gets around to selling its roughly $70m ALIV equity stake held through its opaque HoldingCo2015 Limited..

How that’s done will have to await a future column.

BRENT Symonette. Minister of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration. Photo: Terrel W. Carey/Tribune Staff

While not planning for Valentine’s Day, here’s what I saw happening around town.

The Cable Beach spot favoured by our sharpest dudes and foxiest chicks was playing host to two famous retirees enjoying the music - separately. At a table by the window presided Perry, now leaner and calmer, while waaay down the bar Hubert the First wagged his sturdy jaw. Pressing the flesh is what they love, in or out of office.

There was no sign of Hubert the Second. It seems the worthy Doc has little taste for night-time cavorting. Too busy writing long speeches a bit short on charisma.

THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 15, 2018, PAGE 13

FROM left, Thelma Smith, president and CEO, Trinity; Emmitt Bullard, PTA vice-president; Don Barr, principal; Clive Ferguson, PTA president and Urban Smith, director, Trinity.

CLEANING COMPANY HANDS DONATION TO SCHOOL TRINITY Ultimate Cleaning Services Ltd, a local business on Exuma, recently made a donation to the L N Coakley High School on that island.

Principal Don Barr highlighted a goal to outfit the school’s junior block with air-conditioned

YOUR

classes along with various other areas of the school.

Toward this end Trinity has donated four 24,000 BTU air-conditioners.

In addition, the company donated 80 new chairs to assist with the school’s need for classroom furniture.

The company vowed to continue to support the school in its endeavours and encouraged other local companies to join in the efforts.

Trinity was recently recognised as company of the year by the Exuma Chamber of Commerce.

CHOICE FOR THE FAMILY WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/JOYFM1019

The Persis Rodgers Home For The Aged

The Executive Committee, staff and residents of The Persis Rodgers Home For The Aged wish to extend sincere gratitude to its many patrons and friends for their support during the past year. This support, which has been given in cash, service, spiritual encouragement and prayers, has enabled this facility to continue to offer caring services to elderly persons of this community for over forty continual years.

Thank You For Your Continued Support.

Administration Email: prodgershomefortheaged@gmail.com Phone: 325-5092/ 356-0220

PAGE 14, Thursday, February 15, 2018

PORN STAR: I CAN NOW TELL MY TRUMP STORY NEW YORK (AP) — Stormy Daniels, the porn star whom Donald Trump’s attorney acknowledges paying $130,000 just before Election Day, believes she is now free to discuss an alleged sexual encounter with the man who is now president, her manager said.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, believes that Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, invalidated a nondisclosure agreement after two news stories were published Tuesday: one in which Cohen told The New York Times he made the six-figure payment with his personal funds, and another in the Daily Beast, which reported that Cohen was shopping a book proposal that would touch on Daniels’ story, said the manager, Gina Rodriguez.

“Everything is off now, and Stormy is going to tell her story,” Rodriguez said.

At issue is what, exactly, happened inside a Lake Tahoe, Nevada, hotel room in 2006 between Trump, then a reality TV star, and Clifford.

THE TRIBUNE

Mugabe’s rival Tsvangirai dies JOHANNESBURG Associated Press

ZIMBABWEAN opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai died Wednesday at age 65, ending a long campaign to lead his country that brought him jailings, beatings and accusations of treason.

Tsvangirai died Wednesday evening in a Johannesburg hospital, said Elias Mudzuri, a vice president of the Movement for Democratic Change party.

The opposition leader had been battling colon cancer for two years.

Tsvangirai for years was longtime ruler Robert Mugabe’s most potent challenger and even became prime minister in an uncomfortable coalition government for a few years.

Mugabe, 93 and in power for 37 years, resigned in November after pressure from the military and ruling party.

In January, the ailing Tsvangirai suggested that he would be stepping down, saying he was “looking at the imminent prospects of us as the older generation leaving the levers of

leadership to allow the younger generation to take forward this huge task.”

His death leaves the opposition in disarray just months before national elections. An opposition alliance had endorsed him as its candidate, even as his deputies tussled to act as party leader while he was out of the country for treatment.

Those power struggles are now likely to intensify, which may give an edge to the ruling party, ZANU-PF, and its candidate, President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“We are still mourning.

This is not the time to talk about that,” MDC party spokesman Obert Gutu said.

Tsvangirai came tantalizingly close to the presidency in 2008 when he won the most votes in the election.

But the results, delayed nearly a month as Mugabe’s officials “verified” the count, gave him just 47 percent, shy of the more than 50 percent majority needed to win outright. Tsvangirai boycotted the runoff, citing widespread violence against his supporters, handing Mugabe the victory.

IN this Nov 30, 2016, photo, Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is pictured.

Negotiations then led brought Tsvangirai consid- with gun butts, belts and to the coalition govern- erable hardship. He was whips in 2007.

“Morgan Tsvangirai will ment, an uneasy alliance jailed several times and that ended in 2013 when charged with treason. He be remembered as one of Mugabe won elections amid suffered a fractured skull Zimbabwe’s great patricharges of intimidation and and internal bleeding when ots,” opposition figure and he and more than a dozen human rights lawyer David rigging.

Being Mugabe’s most other leaders of his party Coltart said Wednesday prominent opponent were arrested and beaten night.

SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT ZUMA RESIGNS JOHANNESBURG Associated Press SOUTH African President Jacob Zuma resigned on Wednesday in a televised address to the nation, ending a turbulent tenure marred by corruption scandals that sapped the popularity of the ruling African National Congress and hurt one of Africa’s biggest economies.

The resignation signaled an imminent end to a leadership crisis in South Africa and set the stage for Zuma to be replaced by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa,

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who has promised a robust campaign against corruption but will quickly face pressure to produce results in a country struggling with unemployment, economic inequity and other problems. Ahead of 2019 elections, Ramaphosa also has the tough task of rebuilding a ruling party whose moral stature has diminished since it took power at the end of white minority rule in 1994.

“I have therefore come to the decision to resign as president of the republic with immediate effect,” said Zuma, who added that

he took the decision even though he disagreed with the ruling party’s demand that he quit immediately or face a motion of no confidence in the parliament on Thursday. Zuma, 75, had said he was willing to resign early from his second five-year term but wanted to stay in office for several more months.

“Of course, I must accept that if my party and my compatriots wish that I be removed from office, they must exercise that right and do so in the manner prescribed by the constitution,” Zuma said.

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THE TRIBUNE

Thursday, February 15, 2018, PAGE 15

17 dead in Florida school bloodbath from page one which has about 3,000 students.

Students who knew the shooter, identified as Nikolas Cruz, described a volatile teenager whose strange behavior had caused others to end friendships with him, particularly after the fight that led to his expulsion.

“It is a horrific situation,” said Robert Runcie, superintendent of the school district in Parkland, about an hour’s drive north of Miami. “It is a horrible day for us.”

The suspect was taken into custody without a fight about an hour later in a residential neighborhood about a mile away. He had multiple magazines of ammunition, authorities said.

“It’s catastrophic. There really are no words,” Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters.

The attacker used the fire alarm “so the kids would come pouring out of the classrooms into the hall,” Sen Bill Nelson told CNN. “And there the carnage began,” said Nelson, who said he was briefed by the FBI. The Florida Democrat said he did not know if the gunman used the smoke grenades, but he assumed that’s why he had a gas mask on.

Most of the fatalities were inside the building, though some victims were found fatally shot outside, the sheriff said.

Victoria Olvera, a junior at the school, said Cruz was expelled last school year because he got into a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend. She said he had been abusive to his girlfriend.

“I think everyone had in their minds if anybody was going to do it, it was going to be him,” she said.

Dakota Mentcher, another junior, said he used to be friends with Cruz. But he cut off the friendship as Cruz’s behavior “started progressively getting a little more weird”. Cruz posted on Instagram about killing animals and threatened one of Mentcher’s friends, he said.

He remembered that Cruz had a pellet gun and did target practice in his backyard.

Student Daniel Huerfano said he recognised Cruz from an Instagram photo in which Cruz had posed with a gun in front of his face.

A STUDENT shows a law enforcement officer a photo or video from his phone in Parkland, Florida.

Cruz “was that weird kid that you see ... like a loner,” he said.

Freshman Max Charles was in class when he heard five gunshots.

“We were in the corner, away from the windows,” he said. “The teacher locked the door and turned off the light. I thought maybe I could die or something.”

As he was leaving the building, he saw four dead students and one dead teacher. He said he was relieved when he finally found his mother.

“I was happy that I was alive,” Max said. “She was crying when she saw me.”

Not long after the attack,

Michael Nembhard was sitting in his garage on a culde-sac when he saw a young man in a burgundy shirt walking down the street. In an instant, a police cruiser pulled up, and officers jumped out with guns drawn.

“All I heard was ‘Get on the ground! Get on the ground!’” Nembhard said.

He said he could not see the suspect’s face, but the man did as he was told.

The day started normally at the school, which had a morning fire drill. Students were in class around 2:30pm when another alarm sounded.

Noah Parness, a 17-yearold junior, said he and the other students calmly went outside to their fire-drill areas when he suddenly heard popping sounds.

“We saw a bunch of teachers running down the stairway, and then everybody shifted and broke into a sprint,” Parness said. “I hopped a fence.”

Beth Feingold said her daughter, Brittani, sent a text that said, “We’re on code red. I’m fine,” but sent another text shortly afterward saying, “Mom, I’m so scared.” She was later able to escape.

Students heard loud bangs as the shooter fired.

Many of them hid under desks or in closets and barricaded doors.

Television footage showed students leaving in a single-file line with their hands over their heads as officers urged them to evacuate quickly.

When Caesar Figueroa got to the Florida school to check on his 16-year-old daughter, he saw helicopters and police officers wielding guns.

“It was crazy and my daughter wasn’t answering her phone.”

She finally texted him that she was inside a closet with friends.

ANXIOUS family members wait for news of students as two people embrace in Parkland, Florida, yesterday. A shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School sent students rushing into the streets as SWAT team members swarmed in and locked down the building.

Photos: Wilfredo Lee/AP

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